BT is absorbing the lessons of its first weekend as a Premier League
broadcaster, which included an embarrassing technical failure and widespread
criticism of some of its novice on-screen talent.

Bosses will be relieved that BT Sport gained an audience roughly on a par with those of ESPN and Setanta, the previous challengers to BSkyB’s dominance of live football.

Figures from Barb, the independent monitor of viewing figures, show that Liverpool versus Stoke City attracted a peak audience of 764,000 on Saturday afternoon. It represented less than a third of the three million households signed up to BT Sport via the company’s own broadband-based television service, via satellite and cable.

By comparison, Sky’s first match - Swansea City versus Manchester United - gained a peak audience of 3.1 million.

BT’s ratings compare to the 713,000 who watched Newcastle United versus Tottenham Hotspur, the first game of last season on ESPN. In 2011 a maximum audience of 806,000 watched Newcastle take on Arsenal on the same channel at the start of the 2011 season.

Simon Green, head of BT Sport said: “We are pleased by the Barb figures but they don’t tell the whole story, because we have hundreds of thousands of customers who can watch via platforms that Barb doesn’t capture.”

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However, in spite of BT’s £1bn investment in BT Sport, the channels’ big day was hit by technical gremlins. The BT Sport smartphone app, which allows subscribers to watch live on the move via mobile networks or Wi-fi, failed during the first half of Liverpool versus Stoke City, prompting angry criticism on social networks.

BT admitted the problems but said they affected only a minority of those using the app.

“Our team responded quickly and were able to make a difference so most of the customers who were experiencing problems were able to enjoy the remainder of the second half,” a spokeswoman said.

Twitter users also savaged members of BT’s punditry team. Ex-Liverpool and England striker Michael Owen was branded “boring” and “rubbish” by hundreds for his co-commentary efforts. “Sentiment analysis” of the discussion via the micro--blogging network showed he made an overwhelmingly negative impression on his debut. David James, the former England goalkeeper, was similarly lambasted for his pitch-side interviewing technique.